hankyoreh

A sense of crisis that the United New Democratic Party may collapse if it continues to drift away led to a smooth compromise. The selection of former provincial governor Sohn Hak-kyu as the leader of the UNDP on January 10 was seen as a result of the party’s desperation. However, the road ahead could be a bumpy one. Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan decided to quit the party on the same day.

Sohn’s position as the UNDP leader, which is temporary, will end on April 9, when the nation holds its general parliamentary election. In the meantime, the UNDP’s central committee has decided to give Sohn the full authority to select the members of the senior leadership committee, as a way for Sohn to fully exercise his leadership of the party. Being empowered to do this is no small thing.

However, the committee has delayed its discussions about who will be given the power to nominate candidates for National Assembly seats ahead of the April election. The delay was the result of a common understanding within the party that a new leader was needed, but it has left room for another rift because Sohn will not be given the power to nominate the party’s candidates. Sohn’s aides question whether a leader without the authority to nominate candidates will be able to revitalize the beleaguered party, so it is expected they will push for the authority to be given to Sohn.

On the contrary, factions opposed to Sohn’s leadership are likely to call on the party to give the nominating authority to someone else and start the nomination process all over again. In short, the potential for conflict over this issue is likely to lead to a party-wide struggle, analysts say.

Still, many people in and out of the party remain skeptical about Sohn’s leadership following the UNDP’s defeat by a landslide during the presidential election last month. Some have also questioned Sohn’s political identity, because he defected from the Grand National Party last summer. It also remains to be seen whether senior lawmakers and reform-minded first-term lawmakers will follow the central committee’s decisions. In particular, the departure of Lee Hae-chan, who is a considered to be one of the leading pro-Roh Moo-hyun politicians, is likely to lead an “anti-Sohn Hak-kyu” exodus from the party.

Meanwhile, it is likely that other party defectors may soon follow in his path. Lee Hoi-chang, who ran as an independent in last month’s election, has since created a new party, the Liberty New Party.

Rep. Kim Jong-ryul, who is close to former South Gyeongsang Province governor and LNR member Kim Hyuk-kyu, told reporters that he “will decide whether to quit the party by next week, after seeing the direction of change in the UNDP and the change in the LNR. If the UNDP fails to get out of its old cage of ideology, I will have no choice but to join the LNR, and some will follow me.”

On the day the party selected Sohn as its leader, the central committee’s nominating session went well, despite the fact that some within the party had urged party members to boycott or delay the session earlier that morning. In a statement released by a group of first-term lawmakers, they accused the committee of missing an essential part of the selection process. However, as of 2:20 p.m. more than half of the 514 central committee members, or 259 people, were present. A total of 306 members participated in the session.
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